stories

Ideastream Public Media • 04/14/2026

Shifting patterns in pet adoptions leave Northeast Ohio animal shelters at capacity

Pet shelters and animal adoption agencies across the country have been at or near capacity since the COVID-19 pandemic, and in Northeast Ohio many facilities report having more animals than new families to adopt them.Shelters and humane societies often see a cycle in adoption patterns, said Kate Lumsden, shelter coordinator at the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Seville.“In the summer, you'll see a lot of kittens get adopted because it's kitten season and...

Ideastream Public Media • 04/07/2026

This Northeast Ohio company sends Arabic books to kids to connect them to culture, language

Arab-American populations are among the fastest-growing in the U.S., and Ohio has more than doubled its Arab-American population between 2000 and 2022. However, mainstream anti-Arab sentiment can be isolating for many young Arab-Americans.In part to combat negative stereotypes and isolation, media producer Rafa Saab and engineer Rania Khalaf co-founded ArabiKids, a subscription service that delivers children's books in Arabic to U.S. families. The company started in Boston, but Saab now runs the...

Ideastream Public Media • 03/25/2026

From frustration to reimagining: Clevelanders grapple with the city's environmental future

Cleveland lawmakers are seeking new ways to address the city's environmental issues after losing more than $3 million in lead remediation funds. The state is revoking $3.3 million given to the city to address lead poisoning, as part of the Ohio Department of Development’s Lead Safe Ohio Program.Though the city is making slow progress, Cleveland has some of the highest rates of lead poisoning in children. The rate dropped to a new low of 14.5% in 2025, but that’s still much higher than the nation...

Ideastream Public Media • 03/16/2026

Northeast Ohio’s aging population is getting lonelier. Fun and games can help

It’s 10 a.m. on a Friday, and the gym inside Friendly House in Mansfield is buzzing as a dozen or so seniors laugh and follow the steps to the Electric Slide.This event is a favorite offering from the iConnect program, which seeks to reduce isolation and loneliness among people over 55.Tending to participants' needs and trying out an occasional step of her own is Deborah Wherry Bey, the program's leader.“We do technology, book clubs, we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we went to Motown,...

Ideastream Public Media • 03/03/2026

Amid funding scares, NASA Glenn is developing 'gas stations' for the moon and Mars

NASA Glenn Research Center is developing a new technology to use ice on the moon and Mars to make fuel for space travel — increasing the potential distance and length of future expeditions.“Our wider goal is to develop the technologies needed for NASA's future missions,” said Evan Racine, an aerospace engineer and project manager at NASA Glenn.To explain the potential benefits to space travel of the fuel technology, called CryoFill, Racine uses the analogy of a long road trip from Cleveland to L...

Ideastream Public Media • 02/10/2026

A massive crack in frozen Lake Erie means no more ice walks for Clevelanders

Northeast Ohio has been under a deep freeze since January. Cleveland, specifically, didn’t see temperatures over freezing for 18 days in January and early February — the longest such streak since the winter of 2000 and 2001. Those temperatures caused 95% of the surface of Lake Erie to freeze.While experts warn that walking on the ice is dangerous under any circumstances, the extensive ice coverage has drawn some adventurous Northeast Ohioans to explore the surface of the lake on foot.At Clevelan...

Ideastream Public Media • 12/22/2025

Cleveland's Gordon Park offers a rare chance for better East Side lakefront access, students say

Gordon Park on Cleveland's East Side — part of Cleveland Metroparks' Lakefront Reservation — offers a long list of amenities spread across its 122 lakefront acres. There are boat ramps, walking trails, tennis courts and a picnic lawn.But ever since Interstate 90 was built in the 1950s, East Siders have had a hard time accessing the park, and Lake Erie in general.Cleveland Metroparks has been working on solutions to the problem for several years. And they’ve recently gotten some help from student...

Ideastream Public Media • 12/11/2025

'It can be brutal': Ohio's rural homeless shelters brace for a cold winter

Inside the laundry room at Homeward Bound, a homeless shelter in Wooster, a volunteer folds the latest batch of bedding, while a washing machine spins a sudsy load."We do a lot of laundry as you can imagine. We provide all the bedding and the shower and towels and stuff like that," says Brandon Barnes, the shelter's executive director.Homeward Bound opened earlier this year and can accommodate up to 44 people at a time.Wayne County doesn't have as many homeless people as more urban counties like...

Ideastream Public Media • 11/21/2025

This 90-year old runner from North Olmsted won't slow down

When she was growing up, Marilyn Olsen of North Olmsted says girls didn’t play sports. She herself was a party girl, preferring dancing to any organized exercise.“When I got out of high school, it was the bars or the ballrooms,” Olsen said. “Never, never anything athletic, but the dancing was good.”That changed when she was 45. A coworker recommended that Olsen join her for a race, and from there she fell in love with the sport of running. She ended up placing third in her first 5K.“I tried it a...

Ideastream Public Media • 11/04/2025

Lorain County’s Black girls struggle mentally. Experts look for answers

This story came from Ideastream Public Media’s engaged journalism team, as part of our commitment to telling stories with people and communities across Northeast Ohio.On a recent Saturday morning, a conference at Lorain County Community College kicked off the county's new chapter of Black Girl Rising, a nonprofit helping Black girls build confidence.Girls and teenagers from across the county sat together at tables, listening intently as speakers and panelists discuss a topic of growing importanc...

Ideastream Public Media • 10/22/2025

Mansfield's 'Pothole Haters' aim to leave no road unpaved

Eric Miller says Mansfield has some of the best roads in the state. But it wasn’t always like this.“Our streets were in deplorable condition,” Miller said. “They were falling apart, most of the streets were in terrible shape, and we just needed to do something about it.”Back in the 1980s, Miller — a lawyer — started a group called the Committee for Better Streets, dedicated to fixing the streets for everyone.The idea, he says, was this: “How can you, as a modern-day citizen, do something that he...

Ideastream Public Media • 10/02/2025

‘I speak lead': Through fungi and stories, Cleveland advocates tackle environmental justice

Robin Brown’s former home sits on the corner of East 116th and Luke Avenue, in Cleveland’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Today, the home is abandoned; porch floorboards are torn up, paint chips are peeling off the side of the home, and windows are broken.However, this vacant home ended up changing Brown’s life in a way she would’ve never expected. Brown says she was driving to pick up her daughter from daycare when she received a phone call from her daughter’s physician with some startling news.“...

Ideastream Public Media • 08/28/2025

'It's not gonna stop.' Cleveland food pantry vows to continue despite federal funding cuts

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland's Detroit Shoreway neighborhood distributes fresh produce through the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry Program, which served more than 4,000 families last year.Vidorian Massingale, affectionately known as Chef Vi, is the executive chef for the church’s mobile pantry. Before this job, she was working in food service in schools, but wanted a career that could help people more directly.“I love working here,” Massingale said. “Everybody is just so...

Ideastream Public Media • 05/29/2025

Despite Cleveland's unpredictable weather, these beekeepers hope to keep the hive alive

It’s a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon so, naturally, I’m spending the day outside. But I’m not relaxing or tanning — today, I’m an honorary beekeeper.I'm joining Danie White for a hive drop, where we’re moving bees from a temporary hive to a more permanent structure. White is helping Lexxus Davis, her friend and fellow beekeeper, acclimate the bees to a new hive in Davis’ garden in Cleveland's Central neighborhood. We’re all decked out in thick, white beekeeping suits to protect ourselves fro...

Ideastream Public Media • 05/15/2025

After shooting, Shaker Heights Public Library remains a space for everyone

A 15-year-old Shaker Heights High School student is accused of shooting and killing an 18-year-old peer in front of the city’s main library branch on Van Aken Boulevard on April 1.The shooting was highly disturbing for local parents, including Nogira Fitch. The day of the shooting, her son called her to pick him up early, but she had a schedule conflict.“And then an hour later, I hear about this,” Fitch recalled in the library's parking lot several weeks after the shooting. “So, immediately, fea...

Ideastream Public Media • 04/11/2025

'Will my life be cut short too?': Cleveland 10-year-old wants action after gun violence kills friend

Lorenzo Roberson is like any other 10-year-old. He enjoys playing basketball and football — he even wants to play for the Minnesota Vikings when he grows up. He’s energetic, talkative and fidgety. However, Roberson, like many children affected by gun violence, carries a heavy burden. Kaden Coleman, his best friend, died as a result of gun violence in early February.After losing his friend to gun violence, Lorenzo wanted to relay a passionate message to City of Cleveland officials to save his own...

Ideastream Public Media • 10/28/2024

Voter turnout is low for Latinos. Can these Cleveland canvassers reverse the trend?

Alberto Ramos Cordero and Micaela Barrett have been out canvassing 20 hours per week over the last few months. They recently spent time roaming Ward 12 on Cleveland's southwest side, home to a high concentration of Latino residents. They've been working to raise the Latino voter turnout for the November election.Cordero and Barrett, who are members of Cleveland’s Young Latino Network, arrived for a recent shift around 3:30 p.m., parking their car at the corner of West 20th Street and Natchez Ave...

Ideastream Public Media • 09/10/2024

Organizers call for community investment from Huntington after push to reopen Buckeye bank

Mary Boyle is a depositor at Huntington Bank. Back in October 2023, she came home one day to some unwelcome news.Her local bank in Cleveland's Buckeye neighborhood would be one of the 34 branches closing in Ohio by Feb. 9, 2024, a letter said, citing a spike in violent crime in the area.Boyle had seen businesses leave Buckeye for years. She noticed a pattern: when businesses leave Buckeye, their departure affects the neighborhoods they leave and the residents who remain, which forces even more b...

Marketplace • 02/15/2024

How a bank failure 150 years ago still shapes many Black Americans’ relationships to financial institutions

The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, also known as the Freedman’s Bank, was established in March 1865 by white abolitionists, bankers and philanthropists. According to the Treasury Department, the bank was created to “help develop the newly freed African Americans as they endeavored to become financially stable.” Within the first few years, the bank flourished, with 37 established branches and more than 100,000 depositors in total.However, the bank failed after less than a decade, due to a...

Marketplace • 01/26/2024

How are Black communities in the rural South dealing with digital redlining?

In today’s economy, broadband internet is virtually essential. It affects people’s ability to apply for jobs or work from home, pay bills, turn in schoolwork or use telehealth services. But in many communities across the rural South, residents don’t have reliable and affordable internet access. Black households in the South suffer the most; 38% of Black residents don’t have home internet, according to a 2021 study. Some residents pay exorbitant prices for spotty broadband service or rely on co...

Marketplace • 05/22/2023

The messy money reality at the center of the debt ceiling fight

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Time is running out for federal officials to prevent an economically catastrophic default on U.S. debt. I know! We’ve done that story over and over and over again as raising the debt limit — something that used to be a routine part of running the government — has become increasingly politicized.But at the heart of the debate over government borrowing, there is an uncomfortable truth: This economy only works, because we believe in it together. On a special...

Marketplace • 02/23/2023

Understanding the civil rights movement as a labor and economic movement

When discussing the civil rights movement, many focus on its political and social implications. But we rarely hear about the economic ideals that drove the movement. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech starts with an economic metaphor. King describes the economic hardship Black Americans face: Nearly 60 years later, Black Americans are still waiting for the check to clear. When reevaluating the civil rights movement, it becomes clear that economic justice is one of the topics...

Marketplace • 06/08/2022

How do “school-hardening” tactics affect students, teachers and their communities?

After the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the national conversation has been focused on the prevention of mass shootings at schools. Texas lawmakers have discussed practices and techniques that would strengthen the security of schools, from arming teachers to using bulletproof shields. In 2019, after a shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, outside Houston, the state allocated $100 million toward security upgrades to schools.By one estimate, U.S. schools spend almost $3 bill...

WAMU • 12/17/2020

Rev. William Lamar Talks About White Supremacy, The Black Church And Civil Rights

On Saturday, supporters of the President held a ‘Stop the Steal’ rally in the District. The President and his supporters still falsely claim that the election was rigged in President-elect Biden’s favor, without any sufficient evidence of election fraud. Later that evening, members of the Proud Boys trespassed onto the properties of two historic Black churches and burned Black Lives Matter signs.

Black churches have a long history in civil rights, from the abolition movement in the 1800s to the Civil Rights movements in the 50s and 60s. So, what is the Black church’s role in today’s fight for civil rights?

We speak to Rev. William Lamar IV, pastor of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal about the Proud Boys’ protests on Saturday, and the church’s role in fighting for social justice.